Sears to close six stores in Illinois, months after getting tax credit

By Katherine Boccaccio

Hoffman Estates, Ill. -- Two months after Sears Holdings Corp. received a $150 million Illinois tax credit for cementing its plans to keep its home base in the state, it announced Monday that it would close six stores in Illinois.

The retailer had already announced in December – two weeks after the tax credit – that it would close 100 to 120 stores, but no Illinois stores were on the initial list.

Sears laid off 100 headquarters employees earlier in February, but said the terminations did not violate the terms of the tax credit, which require that the retailer keep at least 4,250 jobs in state.